I thought of driving out to the coast and throwing you a couple nice boards - but then realised that they would have to travel around the horn and you might not get them for quite a few years. Might be easier to have someone cut up a couple nice boards and send them to you. You could laminate or scarf them back together and you would have a nice blank to start with.

Foster

:Hello Scott,

: I live in the Virgin Islands. It's beautiful and I love it, but there are
: some sacrifices you have to make, such as $7.00 a gallon for milk, and not
: being able to find wood!!! A few years ago we had a gift from God- Home
: Depot built a store in St. Thomas. Before that it was all mom and pop
: hardware stores. They complained of course that the big guy was pushing
: them out of business, but ya know honestly the little guys were
: overcharging us for years so fair is fair I guess. Unfortunately since
: this is the hurricane belt and most homes are concrete, Home Depot doesn't
: carry a lot of wood. They have the S4S Poplar and Red Oak furniture grade
: stuff but not the white oak or cedar or other woods that they do in the
: states. The studs are full of knots. Even the "1A" at another
: supplier was knotty- just the knots were smaller. Anyway, mahogany here is
: like pine in the states... well... not exactly. It's still expensive, but
: you can get it in good lengths and tight grain. No other wood here comes
: close. They send us the worst stuff because once it gets here what are we
: going to do... put it on the boat and send it back? I checked with a very
: reputable company in the states that I won't name because they were at
: least willing to ship to me, but they wanted $200 for a spar-grade sitka
: spruce. I don't have the luxury of going to lumber yards and picking out
: wood. I can order wood and have it shipped, but I have to pay dearly.

: Soooo... in the sailing mecca we don't have boat-building lumber. Go figure.
: I am going to probably go with the mahogany. The lumber yard here is very
: helpful and I'm going to ask to weigh it side-by-side with pine or fir. I
: am not sure what mahogany this is- I believe it's from Trinidad or
: Venezuela. It is very dark and extremely tight grain. It's in huge 4x8 and
: even larger very long pieces. More like beams than boards, so it's hard to
: just pick one up and compare by feel. I am going to see if they have some
: cut-offs that I can compare weights with.

: Anyway, thanks for the response. I'll keep everyone updated on what I decide
: to do and how it comes out. As I was telling Bill, if it comes out too
: heavy I can always use the frame for decoration- maybe put a glass top on
: it and make a dinner table!